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The whale shark is the largest shark to ever have existed, even larger than the prehistoric Megalodon who was thought to measure up to 16m in length. When you swim with whale sharks in the Galapagos, you are swimming with the biggest of the largest shark in the world, as we the whale sharks that pass by the Galapagos are a very special group of sharks.
The Galapagos constellation - the name used to describe a group of whale sharks - is unique worldwide, as it is conformed of over 90% adult females not seen at that ratio anywhere else in the world. These females average between 11-12m in total length with some of the largest sharks reported passing by the archipelago reaching a staggering 16 meters long, close to the largest whale sharks ever reported at 18 and 20 meters long. You can begin to imagine what encountering a shark that is larger than the average school bus and weights more than twice the amount can be like.
Most other known whale shark sighting locations in the world are made up of juveniles (<8m) who aggregate in areas with a lot of whale shark food. Although whale sharks are the largest shark in the ocean, and one would expect them to eat large prey, they are actually one of three filter feeding sharks and feed only on the tiniest creatures in the ocean - fish eggs, copepods, krill, and other tiny creatures that make up the large group called zooplankton. However, in the Galapagos, you will never see one of these large sharks gulping back gallons of water as you do in the other sighting locations. Here whale sharks swim by peacefully through a place anecdotally nicknamed “the bus stop” at Darwin’s Arch dive site, in the northernmost corner of the Galapagos Archipelago. Here different whale sharks pass by almost daily between the months of June-November (with some sporadic sightings in May and December depending on the oceanographic conditions of the year).
To understand why the Galapagos has such a unique aggregation, a research team from the “Galapagos Whale Shark Project” is studying their movement patterns, behaviour, and reproductive status though the use of satellite tags, photo identification and novel techniques such as underwater ultrasounds and blood draws. The team has discovered that these females are at an adult stage ready to reproduce and are trying to uncover if during sometime during the whale shark season, the sharks that swim by could be pregnant or on their way to find a mate. They are also looking at their movements in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and identifying which human threats such as vessel strikes, bycatch from fisheries and plastic pollution are most affecting them, in order to find ways to protect this endangered species from going extinct.
Swimming with whale sharks in the Galapagos Islands is not an easy feat. As they are positioned in such a remote area of the archipelago, dare I say, in the Pacific Ocean, with an erratic strong current system, you must be a skilled diver to reach this location.
Only a few dive liveaboards head up to Darwin and Wolf and around the Archipelago every week with a max of 12-16 passengers that head out into the ocean with the dream of sighting these starry ocean giants underwater, along with some other spectacular marine life that the Galapagos has to offer- playful sea lions, marine iguanas feeding underwater, massive schools of hammer heads and so much more. The effort to reach Darwin Island to encounter this shark is worth it. At Darwin’s Arch you fall back into the ocean with your scuba gear on and enter a place that seems out of this world. There is life in every direction you look. Over the reef you will sight marine turtles feeding on the algae, giant moray eels and lobsters hiding around the rocks, reef fish of every shape and colour speckle the water. Over the impressive platform that makes up the dive site you will be surrounded by hammerhead sharks swimming in large groups, Galapagos and oceanic black tip sharks patrolling the area, and Silky sharks waiting to keep you company out in the blue. Then you will hear it, a shaker interrupts the underwater sound scape and out of the blue a giant shadow starts to appear. A large body, covered in the most beautiful spotted pattern approaches, and suddenly you are face to face with the largest shark to ever have lived, the whale shark.
To find out more about whale sharks in the Galapagos Islands visit www.galapagoswhaleshark.org Galapagos Whale Shark Project
PS: If you are one of the lucky divers that gets to see a whale shark underwater, you can support whale shark conservation by uploading the photographs or videos of your encounter to the Global catalogue at Sharkbook - Wildbook for Sharks at www.sharkbook.ai. This citizen science effort helps researchers around the world passively track these sharks and find ways to protect them from extinction. |